Earlier this year, the UK capital exploded with a week of events for the London Design Festival 2007. Now in its fifth year, The London Design Festival has become a fixture on the international creative calendar. With over 200 projects and audiences of 300,000 it has quickly become one of the most important design events in the world. I spent the September Festival week flying across the UK capital to cover some of key events. This year, the London Festival was proud to establish a whole list of socially conscious and green focused events and debates:
“You cannot fail to have noticed that everyone has gone eco. From politics to design, the environment is at the top of everyone’s agenda.Of course eco or sustainable design is nothing new – designers have always returned to the theme of reusing and redesigning products. However, sustainability is now being embraced more widely as it soars up the political agenda, and is a major theme running through this year’s London Design Festival (15-25 September).”
On day one, as I sat outside the Royal Festival Hall on London’s Southbank, I watched 150 blocks of black pre-cast concrete of Zaha Hadid’s sculpture “Super Fluid Tiling” be constructed, polished and curated. Following which, it was off into the press office and then a look at Deptford Design Challenge and of course the Swarovski Installations.
Despite discovering the late cancellation of one of two events, it was a brief (but exciting) start, to a jam-packed week of coverage (read my review of day one here). The week went on to see the opening of 100% Design, DesignersBlock, [Re]Design, Tent London and a personal highlight, Tom Dixon’s eco-light installation in Trafalgar Square.
Working with Sustainability weblog Inhabitat.com there were plenty of sustainability focused highlights this year. Below, I have listed some key coverage articles for everyone to read:
- Anamorphosis: Festival Highlights
- Inhabitat: Deptford Design Challenge
- Inhabitat: Tom Dixon’s Light Giveaway
- Inhabitat: 100% Design: Top 10 Eco Finds
- Inhabitat: Greenpeace Light Garden
- Inhabitat: Trash Luxe: Rework Reuse
- Inhabitat: [Re]design Chair Exhibition
Do also take a look at the photographs of the festival over on Flickr.
